In Rochester, Pa. state food inspectors told some church ladies they couldn't sell pies they baked at home at the church lunch on Good Friday. Some state employees, obviously, don't have enough to do.
Closer to home state school administrators are struggling to keep their schools afloat and some 1,500 teachers on the job. Trouble is Governor Mark Sanford isn't doing his share. He has to date refused to release $700 million in stimulus funds that could be used for education. President Obama's team told the governor he could not use those dollars to pay down long term debt. The governor now says he will release the money if the legislature finds a matching sum in South Carolina revenue to pay down long term debt. As a former legislator I know if the legislature - acting for the citizens of South Carolina - had $700 million in revenue to pay down debt it wouldn't be looking to Washington in the first place.
The editorial staff of the local newspaper, The Post & Courier, has again taken the governor to task again for "his intransigence" in this matter. The paper accuses the governor of advancing his personal national profile in hopes of securing the Republican nomination for president in 2012. "There seems to be little doubt that Mr. Sanford is moving in that direction, and apparently his position on the stimulus money is playing better nationally than in South Carolina which is bearing the brunt of his refusal."
Three cheers for The Post & Courier. I've been reading this paper since I returned to South Carolina in 1959 and I cannot recall it ever criticizing a Republican like it recently has this governor. Maybe there is hope for the rest of us.
